Coup de grace: Nazi Berlin’s fall in RT’s 3D reenactment

Sergeants Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria raise the victory banner above the Reichstag. Still from the film Battle of Berlin from the Unknown War Soviet-American epic documentary. (RIA Novosti) / RIA Novosti

The last major battle of WWII in Europe came in April-May 1945, as the Red Army surrounded the German capital and pushed inwards to decapitate the Nazi regime. In a last-ditch attempt to turn the war around Nazi leaders rounded up civilians to fight.

By the time of the
offensive, Soviet and Polish troops outnumbered the resisting
German forces in both manpower and hardware. However, Berlin was
fortified in preparation for defense and the sheer number of
troops participating – which included some 2.5 million attacking
and 770,000 defending – meant there would be no easy taking of
the city.

Supporting regular troops in the street battles were members of
the Volkssturm militia and Hitler Youth organization as young as
16. Nazi leaders ordered harsh punishment up to execution on the
spot for deserters.

On April 23, the first Soviet troops started fighting their way
into Berlin’s suburbs. By April 27, the city was fully encircled,
and fierce battles were raging in its streets.

“Of all the operations I lived through during the war, the
Berlin operation was the hardest, the most difficult,”
Vladimir Lebedev, a veteran of the war, told RT.

“Imagine a huge city packed with fascists. They were shooting
from everywhere. From basements, windows, attics. Bullets were
whistling by. It’s a miracle anyone survived. Out of 100 soldiers
born in 1923-24, only three returned home. And out of the 1,000
reconnaissance troops, only seven,” he recalled.

Despite the desperate resistance, Berlin fell by May 2, although
episodic clashes continued throughout the city. The Reichstag
building became a scene of intensive fighting on April 29, which
culminated two days later with lifting of a red flag on its roof
– the fourth to make it there, but the first not to be destroyed
by German artillery fire.

Several key figures in the Nazi government, including Adolf
Hitler himself, committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner
by the Soviet soldiers. Others surrendered to stand trial for war
crimes. The unconditional capitulation of the Germany army was
signed on May 8, but in Moscow it was already the next day, which
explains why V-Day is celebrated on May 9 in Russia.

Listen to more witness accounts of the Battle for Berlin at RT’s
“War Witness: Heritage” webpage. Also visit the
Victory Day
project dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the end of the
defeat of the Nazi Germany.